This application claims the priority of DE 10356238.9, filed Dec. 2, 2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a wheel house shell for a motor vehicle which is essentially adapted to and mounted on the contour of the wheel house, with a cool air outlet opening having ribs or gills provided locally on the wheel house shell.
In normal driving operations, rotating wheels on a vehicle stir up a large quantity of particles such as rocks, dirt, snow, water or the like. Some of these particles are thrown to the rear, but some are also conveyed into the wheel house, where they are thrown tangentially along the wheel house shell wall in the direction of rotation of the wheel. Due to the high kinetic energy of the particles, they continue to slide along the wheel house shell wall, drop down again or enter structural openings in the wheel house shell. These are designed as cool air outlet openings, for example, and partially cover sensitive components in the form of ribs or gills, such as fan blades, fan motors, control units, cooler networks or the like behind them.
The type of protection is selected primarily according to thermodynamic and aerodynamic considerations so that admission of particles frequently cannot be prevented to an adequate extent. The situation becomes particularly critical when incoming particles cannot escape in the long run, because there are no additional openings toward the bottom. The space behind the ribs or gills thus becomes more and more clogged with particles. The result for these components is an impairment of function (fan noises, fan imbalance, loss of efficiency, etc.) and/or in the long run possibly a complete failure due to mechanical damage or corrosion.